Tag for The Last Man
by journeyman07
Summary: Ronon and Jennifer in an alternative view of the future. A bit late for this, I realise, but thought I'd post it anyway having finally completed it! Just a little snippet, dunno that it works - please read and review.


'Rodney?' Sheppard screamed through the sandstorm. He pushed his hands in front of his face and tried to concentrate on walking in straight line.

'Yeah?' Rodney's hologram turned as if hearing him from afar, when in reality the colonel's voice sounded loud and clear. As did the roaring of the sandstorm.

'Tell me about Ronon,' came the hoarse reply.

'What...now?' McKay couldn't hide the surprise.

'Yeah, keep talking Rodney,' Sheppard shouted back. Besides he needed to know, he needed to know what had happened to the Satedan who'd fought by his side for so long.

Rodney took a breath, 'well, after what happened to you and Teyla, I think he found it hard being on the base. The only thing keeping him there was Jennifer, and in the end I think he felt he wasn't doing enough in the mission to catch Michael, so he left to recruit volunteers for I guess what you'd call an army, or at least a combat force…' he paused.

'Hey!' Sheppard's interruption made the hologram jump, 'what was that you said about Keller?'

Rodney smiled ruefully remembering, 'the smartest, prettiest and nicest woman on Atlantis, well she fell in love with Ronon and that kept him in Atlantis for a while, he adored her, he really adored her…I never knew Ronon had that in him…anyway, not being part of the fight was too much in the end. Eventually he had to do something and persuaded Sam to let him recruit new soldiers off-world. He had no shortage of volunteers, trained them in all various forms of combat and went looking for Michael. We forgot this is what Ronon did on Sateda, he led soldiers, trained them and all…his task force or army…they were good at it, really good at it…' he trailed off lost in memories for a moment.

Sheppard nearly tripped head long in the sand and struggled to maintain balance.

'Ronon and Keller?' his voice sounded strained with effort and amazed at the same time.

'Yes,' the Rodney- hologram confirmed, 'is that so unbelievable? They're really weren't so different you know, both stubborn, always loyal and sometimes annoyingly direct. But Ronon left Atlantis to build his combat force and although he came back when he could, it was never the same for Jennifer without him. So, eventually she too left and they set up a kind of headquarters and a home in a protected location. She came back to give birth to their son but that was it, Sam tried to persuade them both to stay but….'

'A son?' Sheppard was nearing the outer door and this revelation gave him the energy to launch himself at it. He clattered through and landed in a heap at Rodney's feet, spitting sand and dirt.

'Yes,' the hologram smiled in memory, 'in fact they had two sons and a daughter, it was their sons who eventually found and killed Michael after Ronon died…'

'How did he die?' Sheppard's voice dropped to a murmur. He'd never thought that somehow the larger than life Satedan warrior might actually be vanquished.

'Just how he would have liked: in battle, he'd found one of Michael's hybrid bases and had got in to lay explosives, but Michael's army was so huge by then that he got cut off from his men, so he ordered them out and through the gate and then blew the base, and himself, to pieces.' Rodney trailed off at the memory.

'And you say…Ronon and Jennifer had sons…?' Sheppard prompted in amazement.

'Reo and John ….' Rodney mused, lost in his memories looking into the distance absently.

'John? They named one of them after me?' Sheppard sputtered.

'Yes, of course,' came the fond reply, 'and even though those boys were still in their late teens at the time, they took over Ronon's army and finally got to Michael. There wasn't much stopping the Keller-Dex sons in any respect, I can tell you, Ronon had trained them well, they were both expert soldiers and also leaders, in fact it was under their direction that the galaxy got back to some kind of even keel over the next ten years, Reo especially made sure the hybrids were routed out and dealt with…he was the most like his father, you would have liked him…'

'And Jennifer?'

'Something died in her the day Ronon lost his life and she never remarried, although she lived into her senior years, watching with pride as her sons restored peace to the galaxy.'

Sheppard paused before saying anything else; this was a lot to process.

'You said they had a daughter too?' he remembered.

'Yes,' hologram-Rodney's eyes warmed at the memory of the young woman, 'Lorani, very beautiful, dark and tall like Ronon, very talented, Jennifer taught her medicine, taught her everything she knew…Lorani perfected the hybrid retrovirus cure in the end, building of course on her mother's research…it took a long time to get it just right, but mother and daughter rehabilitated many hybrids once the vaccine was ready. In fact Reo always joked it saved his and John's army from becoming too wrung out and exhausted from hunting down them all down. They had other enemies to deal with over the years, not forgetting the Wraith of course, but Jennifer and Lorani's work was vital in preserving and recovering manpower across the galaxy.'

'Wow,' Sheppard breathed, still trying to envisage this alternative future, 'I never would have thought…' he murmured, '…so how did Jennifer die?'

'From old age, with about six grandchildren running around her feet,' hologram-Rodney snorted with amusement at the memory, 'Lorani said Jennifer just went to bed one evening, saying she hoped to dream of Ronon…and never woke up. She'd been completely healthy, very strong in fact and she'd even been working just the previous day on some new research in the health facility she and Lorani had set up together, she was ninety-two...Lorani said at the funeral that her mother has simply tired of being without Ronon, despite the long and fruitful life she'd led…it was a beautiful occasion…' Sheppard swore the hologram looked misty eyed, 'there were so many people there, from Pegasus and the Milky Way…beautiful.'

Sheppard said nothing at this. He thought back to the times when he'd seen Ronon surreptitiously eyeing Atlantis' new CMO when he thought no one was watching, how he'd seemed quite happy to visit the infirmary to get stitched up for any wound if it meant Dr Keller could attend him, how the two of them seemed to take breakfast at the same time when Sheppard's team weren't off world….and Jennifer Keller…now Sheppard thought about it her eyes always softened at the sight of the Satedan…it was a subtle reaction, but it was tangible nonetheless _and _she tended to wait in the gate-room for any wormhole that meant Ronon's return from off-world.

He resolved to say nothing of what hologram-Rodney had revealed, only to watch and see if the signs weren't already there for this possible future for his two friends.

Rodney was right.

Jennifer and Ronon.

They weren't so different.

If only he could be so certain about his own future and the person he'd like to share it with.

**END**

**A/N: **beta-ed a while back by renisanz, with thanks to her as ever. **J07**


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